Napoleon watched the officer leave, then met O'Shea's eyes.  "A dangerous man,"
the Irishman said quietly, and bent to tighten a bolt down.  "Be careful about
him."

Finally the engine was seated and tested, and ran rough, with a lot of smoke.
"Damn and thunderation, you faithless whore !"  Jack O'Shea cursed it, shaking a wrench.  It stopped, prompting worse swearwords from the Irishman.

Napoleon nodded a little when Jack told him the man was dangerous, " I think maybe that man, He misunderstands me." The dark little man's eyes seemed to twinkle with mischief as he spoke to his freind.  Napoleon burst out laughing as the big Irishman cursed and gestured at the cantankerous old engine.

Jack O'Shea nodded.  "Supposed to be a Colonel or sommat,"  the Irishman said. "But he's dangerous.  Has a string of ghosts following him, and they all looked pretty wretched."  He devoted his attention to the motor and began to pull it apart, looking for the reason for this untoward behaviour.  "Bought the damn thing off a Kraut, wouldn't you know, ran like a top for him,"  O'Shea said, when he wasn't swearing the air blue.

"Let's hope it does not give this kind of trouble in the jungle., Napoleon said as Jack went back to working the engine, " You know me Jack, I can handle a boat, but these engines, they baffle me. Seems like the pretty Doctor has a long trip planned and I'd rather not have to pole and paddle all the way up the Amazon to find her father."

While O'Shea repaired the motor, La Tour busied himself with conducting an inventory of what was on the boat and cheking the condition of the equipment as well.

It is a typical gaiola, a riverboat, about 25 feet long and 10 wide; it has a small bridge, three cabins just big enough for narrow cots, a fringed awning and plenty of places for hammocks to be slung. About 12 feet of deck is uncovered, fore and aft, and the motor sits in a casement at the back.  There are 6 oars, 2 very long poles, and a small canoe resting on the deck with a paddle laced to it, that can seat two people. There is a net and some fishing poles, rope and a small anchor.  It has a fresh coat of white paint and bears the name "Brigid". The motor is diesel and the only part of the boat that troubles the little tracker.

"I'll need a small advance, my freind. I can repay you tommorow when she gives me my up front money. I'll have to lay on supplies of food and such." Jack could tell Napoleon despised asking him for money, but he had none to speak of.

"I'll wait here,"  Jack O'Shea said, opening up his tool chest to show a pair of pistols, a small snub-nosed one and a bigger one with a mother-of-pearl grip.  "I have a feeling someone will not want this boat to go anywhere."

He handed Napoleon over a collection of coins, hopefully enough to lay on food, fuel and whatnot.

The little French-Guyanese looked at the arsenal Jack showed him and shook his head slightly. " You know I don't like gun's Jack." He smiled broadly and opened his duffel bag, finding the large and razor sharp fighting knife he kept there, he tucked it's sheath and the weapon into the back of his belt and made sure his shirt covered it.

Placing the coins offered in his pocket, Napoleon hopped onto the rickety wooden pier and started to walk through the throngs of people towards the market.

" Try not to shoot your self while I'm gone, Jack!" He called good naturedly, before he dissapeared into the crowded and narrow mud streets of Manaus.

Jack O'Shea laughed, and Napoleon hurried off to get the shopping done.
There were bananas, manioc, flour and beans, coffee, tins of meat, and rum
and chocolate; water-jugs, a closed stove that would not burn down the boat,
and a set of pots and pans.  He bargained and argued with the rest of the
shoppers, though when it came in comparison to the extreme shopping skills
of the local housewives, he was left in the dust.  Finally he had hired two
strong men to help carry the purchases, and was returning in triumph to the
boat.  A man in a khaki suit was at the docks, pacing back and forth
impatiently, as Jack watched him placidly.

" I have purchased everything the firecracker could wish for, " Napoleon started while pointing the two men carrying most of the supplies and provisions in the right direction, " whose your nervous companion." The small man watched the man pacing the dock's in his peripheral vision, as the last visitor in Khakis had been less the socialable.

"Are you Mr. La Tour ?"  the man in khaki asked, with a distinct British accent. He looked put-upon, harried and bossed around, but grimly determined to carry out his tasks. "I am looking for a boat that can take three people into the Amazon.  I'm authorized to pay top dollar."

" I am he." Napoleon said, deciding the Englishman was harmless. " But the boat, she belongs to Jack over there, " He nodded in the big Irishman's direction, " and he's already hired out both the boat and my services to someone much prettier than you." He watched as the two men carrying the goods and provisions he'd purchased finished stowing the equipment aboard the river boat. " Maybe these three people could wait? May be I work for them when I'm done with the first contract, Yes?"

"I have gold,"  the man said, with a stiff upper lip in the manner of a good Englishman.  "I expect the gentleman and his party to arrive shortly; they might even be here to-day.  It is a matter of some urgency."

Jack O'Shea arched an eyebrow and looked over at Napoleon - seeming to indicate 'it's your call'.

Napoleon thought about the Bolivian woman and her urgency to find her father. " This boat, she is promised to someone else. Once I give my word I dont take it back." Napoleon replied to the uptight Englishman as he stepped around him and down into the river boat. " Now maybe my fare would not be opposed to going up river with your party as well, together. I will ask when I see her. That is the best I can do, Monsuer. " Napoleon grinned and shrugged slightly to emphasize his point.

"I can only hope that this is so, that I may be able to place them aboard.  My employer's mission is urgent also, I assure you. He knows the jungle well, so there won't be any difficulty - you could just drop him off."  the Englishman replied, pulling out handkerchief and mopping his sweaty brow.  The man seemed to be having a rough day.  "Shall I be along tomorrow morning, here, then ?"

" I would like to know who your employer is and what his mission maybe? I'm sure my fare will refuse any company if she doe not know who it is and what their business is as well. She is...she can be a difficult woman." Napoleon grinned at the English gent and waited for him to answer the question.

The Englishman paused, pulled out a vial of pills - quinine, from the look of them, and took one. That explained the wretched appearance; malaria flaring up.

 "He's a very rich old bastard who wants to go roam around the jungle," the man said, somewhat bitterly.  "I'd advise you to take him for every sovereign you can wring from his pockets, and not to cross him, not on your life would I cross him."

" I'll tell you what, Monsuer. You bring this man around tommorow morning and we'll see what She says. If it's ok with the woman, it's ok with the guide." Napoleon smiled at the man, clearly not caring if his answer sat well with the Englishman or not. " There are no guarantees." La Tour turned his back, dismissing the man with the gesture and went back to the stern to see if Jack needed any assistance. " Well, she will run? this motor of yours, yes?"

"I'll take it,"  the Englishman said.  He took himself away, with a wobble to his walk.

"I think you have to speak German to her,"  Jack O'Shea said, weighing a wrench in his hand and giving the motor an evil look.  "Here, there, shatzi, guten-tag, hallo ?"  But with another two hour's worth of work, the engine was at last starting and staying, and the smoke had abated.  The sun was also close to setting.

"We can't leave her here,"  Jack said.  "There's a spot I hide things at,  we can stow her there and walk through the rough back to the bar."

Napoleon simply nodded at the Englishman then helped Jack finish with the motor for the river boat. He untied the moorings and cast off the  boat from the dock, so that they could take her down the river to Jack's hidden jungle landing. While the engine hummed the pair of freinds through the water, Napoleon marveled at the beauty of the river and the jungle, especially at sunset.

La Tour used the time to bring his bow out from his sea bag and strung the weapon. He grasped a half dozen arrows as well, thinking he might find a bird or a monkey for dinner when the two would walk back through the bush to Jacks place.

Jack guided the boat carefully along a dark route, the hanging vines brushing the men and the cabin.  Monkeys chattered overhead, and the big bats began to fly, looking for fruit. Finally, in a clot of weeds and mud, Jack put the boat up by the bank and pulled more vines and cover around it, to hide it further.

They set off through the rough, hearing monkeys chattering overhead. Napoleon managed to shoot one, and then was about to shoot at a whuffling, snuffling thing in the darkness, when he realised it was Jack's old dog come to find them.  "Ah, Maria Alonza must have dinner ready and she is tired of waiting for us,"  Jack said, with a laugh, and the two men returned to the bar at the edge of town.

Maria Alonza was indeed waiting, as was a one-eyed white man in a new khaki outfit and old, scuffed boots.

"Good evening, Mr. O'Shea, Mr. La Tour,"  the man greeted them in English.  He had a bottle of the expensive whiskey in front of him, so he had to have money.

The little tracker helped Jack hide the boat from prying eyes or other dangers. La Tour was glad he had not jumped the gun and shot the dog. He squatted in the easy way of his mothers Guyanese people and scrathed the dog behind her ears.

Napolean La Tour ignored the man pointedly at first, looking to the pretty Maria he said, " Maria, I hope we did not worry you or keep you waiting long. There was much work to do with the boat, Madamoiselle." and smiled. He offered her the monkey had had skewered on the stroll back through the jungle, holding it out by it's tail. " I know monkey meat is a favorite here."


Napoleon eyed the bottle of good liquor the one eyed man held as he spoke, " The whole town of Manaus is overflowing with khaki clad would be adventurers Jack, No?"  His comment was good natured and held no malice.

" Good evening Monsuer... . You have us at a disadvantage. " He said and finally acknowledged the man's presence.

Maria Alonza received the monkey with a happy smile.  It would make a fine meal.

The one-eyed man nodded.  "My name is Jack Hornsby," he said, and stood up to offer his hand, to shake. "I am an adventurer, with the scars to prove it, and I've been around a long time.  I have a warning to give you.  A man is going to want passage on your boat, he's going to be by tomorrow morning.  He's calling himself Basil Rose.  Take him along, and watch your back.  He's not above murder."

His age was hard to place - perhaps late 30's, for he carried himself with strength, though the deep-bitten tan and lines on his face suggested he might be as much as 50 years old.  The remaining eye was a sharp hazel green, and alert.  "And don't mention my name, if you would,"  Hornsby said. "Basil and I have a score to settle.  I'll see to it you make it past the army all right - I'm good at that sort of thing.  And if the Firecracker has something to say on't - "  He had a funny way of speaking, an accent that Napoleon had not heard before - "give her this."  In his hand was a pair of battered spectacles, one of the lenses badly chipped. "I got them from her father,"  he added, "Four months ago."

" I will take this Basil Rose with me, Monseur, if you can tell me more about Those spectacles. Where is the man you got then from now? Is he alive? Where should I start looking for him?" Is it an agreement?"

Naploeon wondered how this man knew so much about the latest endeavor he and Jack were involved in, and the Bolivian beauty as well. There was a lot of gossip along the river, really the only form of entertainment for many people, besides booze and making babies. He shrugged it off. This job was proving to be quite interesting.

" It seems our little boat will be chock full of more would be killers and murderers than I used to track from Devil's island." he laughed aloud.

" Come, sit with us at dinner and tell us what you know of those spectacles and their former owner?" He asked the one-eyed adventurer.

Hornsby sat down. "Yes," he said simply, in agreement with Napoleon on the quality of his passengers.

He picked up the glass after filling it full of scotch again. "He gave them to me, and said that his daughter would come looking for him.  I came to town two days ago, and I am very good at tracking.  She was easy to find, but since she would shoot me on sight - there are few women so good with a pistol - I have kept my distance.  As for her father, he had plenty to do; he did not want to leave."

Napoleon drank a little of the Scotch with the One-eyed man. " If her father knows she would come looking for him, what does he do that is so important to him that he would have his own daughter risk such a dangerous journey? "

La Tour gave the man room to speak before asking mor questions, " Where up the river is Dr. Corazon? Could you show me rougly on Jack's map? Looks to Jack, " You've got a map, right?"

As an after thought Napoleon asks, " Why would the beautiful Bolivian want to shoot you? "

"He is in a place that few can find, and then only at great cost,"  Hornsby replied. "But his daughter has the map.  She wants to shoot me for a few reasons,"  he grinned suddenly, with a boyish cast to his face, that spoke of the mischief that men and women can get up to. "So I'll stay clear of her, be it for the best, and you can bring her to where she wants to be."

It seemed that Hornsby talked in riddles too.